Welcome to the St Dunstan’s Community of Schools

St Dunstan’s College and Rosemead Preparatory School merged in early 2023 to create one community of schools, consisting of St Dunstan’s Junior School, St Dunstan’s Senior School, and Rosemead Preparatory School. We have a shared vision to provide an ambitious, forward-thinking education to the young people under our care and to ensure that, in so doing, we both inspire and support each pupil to thrive as an individual.

Advantages of the Merger

There are numerous advantages presented by the merger. For pupils, we can share facilities, resources and learning opportunities. For staff, we can share best practice and work collaboratively through staff training and development. For parents, we can facilitate automatic transition across the schools, subject to the decision of the Transition Panel, and to ensure best practice across our operation.

For all stakeholders, coming together as one community allows us to create efficiencies within our professional services provision and in so doing to better face economic and political headwinds in the future.

Governance and Leadership

Each school will maintain its own Head and its own autonomy whilst under the oversight of the Head of the Group – Nick Hewlett – who leads the St Dunstan’s Executive Team (DET). The DET brings together the respective Heads and leaders of the schools as well as those responsible for the leadership of the professional services provision –the CFO, COO and CPO.

The Executive reports to the Board of St Dunstan’s Trustee Ltd, who in turn assume governance responsibilities for both St Dunstan’s Educational Foundation and Thurlow Education Trust.

Pupil Admission and Transition

Pupils can move between schools, subject to the decision made by the Transition Panel. The main transition point is from one of our Junior Schools to the St Dunstan’s Senior School. This decision is taken before the Trinity half-term in Year 5. The Panel, consisting of senior staff from all schools, considers each child’s academic performance and potential, as well as behavioural and pastoral context, before taking a decision regarding automatic transition. It is expected that most pupils will automatically be granted transition from our Junior Schools across to our Senior School. For those not awarded transition, the option remains to take the formal 11+ assessments in the January of Year 6, and for which support and preparation will be provided. Equally, we quite recognise that some parents will want to consider other school options for senior school and support will be provided for these children too.

Joint Ambition, Separate Identities

Rosemead and St Dunstan’s College were both founded on points of difference and breaking the mould in educational thinking. Each school shares our community vision for an exciting, ambitious, and forward-thinking education. This said, each school also has its own identity, autonomy, and values, as carved out by the respective Head. We believe that autonomy within one group identity presents the best of all opportunities for our schools and the children we care for.